This blog reflects my interest in writing pedagogy, agency and efficacy, and teaching with technology -- as a rhetorician and researcher as well as writer, teacher of writers, and teacher of writing teachers.

Metawriting posts from the new blog location

Thursday, December 27, 2012

I have often reflected at
the end of the semester, in true Profhacker fashion, by giving a 3x3 course
evaluation. This means sharing what worked, what didn’t, and what I plan to
change. This was easy to do when I was
essentially teaching the same class in multiple sections. However, now that I
am teaching composition and professional writing it is hard to make such comparisons
so this evaluation and reflection will likely not fall into such neat
categories.

Overall, I feel pretty
good about how my professional writing class turned out. I taught this class
for the first time in the Spring and that was OK but as I had barely a week to
plan the class (for the first time) and I inherited a book it was a bit rough. This
time around I had the benefit of experience and time to plan so it was much
more thought out and I do not plan to make any major changes for the new Spring
Semester. Students report that they learned a lot and had fun. I feel the same
way so what’s not to like?

My Writing II class
continues to be a work in progress and I plan to revamp it yet again for the
Spring Semester. I have high hopes for the new version as it is an idea that
excites me (see The Walking Dead in my writing classroom) and I had an
additional brainstorm about how to marry my new idea to my old practice of
focusing more on writing in the disciplines so it will be a course about
walking/writing dead in the disciplines.
I have spent a lot of my gym time thinking about this class and can’t
wait to see what comes of it!

What worked

I borrowed/adapted a Group
Learning assignment from Cathy Davidson for my professional writing class and
this turned out to be a great assignment. Students really did an amazing job
with it and we all learned something from the process as well as the results.
For this assignment students had to teach the class about some technology/tool
that could be used to produce their final projects. Throughout the rest of the
semester students referred back to these tips/tools and used them for their PW
project as well as work in other classes and their professional lives.

Another success for the
Fall Semester was the use of Google Chat to support virtual office hours. While
overall my use of Google was a bit hit-and-miss (see Google vs. Blackboard) in
terms of success, I can unequivocally say that Google Chat gave my students
quick and easy access to my help and advice. Although it was not always
convenient for me (having to interrupt my work or break a chain of thought), it
definitely helped create a connection with my online students that is always
difficult to forge in an online class.

Finally, the use of
interactive journals was something that worked well and I will continue to use.
Side discussions, support, and practical advice were all a part of the peer
comments on student journals and I think contributed to a sense of class
community. I was pleased with this activity/assignment and will definitely use
it again.

What didn’t work

My attempt at a peer
leader assignment, during which students would take turns leading discussions
and track participation, was a dismal failure. They were supposed to work in
teams and that was always a problem as most of the teams did not work well
together at all. The evaluation part of the assignment was also problematic even
though it was really a matter of noting who had participated and who had not. I
wonder if this type of assignment is simply more problematic in an online class
as I’ve done similar things with traditional classes. I’m not going to use this
assignment until I’ve thought it through again so probably not for the Spring
Semester as I’m at a loss right now.

Similarly, my class
reporter assignment was terrible. I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of students
creating a wiki, blog, or some other record of the lessons they learned in a
class. However, the actual execution in both classes fell far short of my hope.
I think the idea is still a good one but it may not work for a writing class as
well as it does for a content-driven class and it may also be a problem for an
online vs. traditional class. Either way, it is going back on the shelf for now
while I mull it over.

My last failure is the
scaffolding I prepared for my Writing II students as they worked on their final
papers. I thought it would help them to chunk the paper but most were resistant
to the idea and the final papers of those who did participate were often too
chunky. I have some ideas for working the scaffolding into our discussion and
reflection assignments that will make the support more subtle and allow
students more room to grow. I read a blog post a few weeks ago (Intrusive Scaffolding) about how too much scaffolding is actually a disservice for
students and I think this process assignment is a good example.

What will change

While I will still have
students create Google accounts at the beginning of the semester, our early use
of Google will be for interaction (Google chat) and social media (Google+). As
I already noted (see Google vs. Blackboard), I used Google for journals,
discussion, and writing workshop in the Fall Semester but this met with mixed
results and I think sometimes the technology got in the way of the pedagogy
which is never a good thing. I plan to use Blackboard’s blog tool for
interactive journals and discussion but am reserving the option for using
Google for writing workshop at the end of the semester.

As noted above (and in The Walking Dead in my writing classroom), we will discuss the big ideas found in
our literary readings with those found in popular culture (specifically comic
books and their related media). We will then explore (in discussion and in writing)
the ways that those big ideas play out in the disciplines. Stay tuned for more
on this idea!

This semester I am going
to try out a journal assignment focused on self-assessment and self-regulation.
One of the reasons I tried the peer leader assignment is that keeping track of
all the posting/discussion activities is a logistical nightmare for me. It is a
constant battle to find the right balance (not to mention the time) between
teaching and evaluating. My hope is that by making a place/time for students to
record (weekly) what they did to further their learning and meet the course
goals will make them more aware of their own responsibility for their growth
and grades. Plus, this will give me a private place to comment on their
activities as a student separate from their writing and thinking. I hope that
separating these enforcer activities from the writing coach/mentor activities
(made in comments on class reflection and discussion) will allow me to focus my
efforts as well. Or maybe I have just
devised another way to make my head spin. We’ll see!

How did your Fall Semester
turn out? What are your plans for the Spring Semester? I always love to study
(steal/copy/adapt/adopt) the assignments and class activities of other
teachers.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Those who spend time with
me enough to know how extremely uncoordinated I am are probably laughing out
loud, but it is true. I have found balance – or at least more balance than I
may have ever had before in my adult life – and it is awesome. I am still not
physically coordinated and I am often extremely busy but I have worked very
hard this semester to achieve some balance in my life and I am pretty happy
with what I have accomplished. Believe me, if I can do it then there is hope
for you as well. This is my hope that you will make finding balance one of your resolutions for the new year.

This time last year my job
was killing me. I was bone-tired and stressed to the limits of human endurance.
Then in May my body sent me an urgent message to change or else! In May and
June I wrote about the need to find more balance and my initial struggles with
it (see Rising From the Ashes and Have You Got Balance). Six months later I can
report that I am doing great physically and emotionally. I must say that the
life changes I enacted this summer were the best decisions I ever made. Of
course it is one thing to make changes during the summer, but another to keep
them once the school year gets underway. The simple fact that I can report that
I am happy and healthy now tells me that I have kept on my path and that is
good news.

Drawing lines

Perhaps the most important
part of this new life plan was changing the way that I work. In the past my
flexible work schedule meant in reality that I was working seven days a week,
morning, noon, and night. Now I rarely
work in the evening and while I still do some weekend work I try to restrict it
to a few hours. It isn’t always easy but I accomplish this by following two
strict rules:

·You can’t and
shouldn’t do everything

·Prioritize,
prioritize, prioritize

That first rule is a tough
one. It is so often easier (or so we think) to simply do something ourselves
rather than to let someone else do it. Worse, it is often easier to do
something ourselves than to find and convince someone else to take on a task (and then to provide the support they need to do it without micromanaging).
However, I have delegated and divided a number of tasks that have made my life
easier. Other jobs I eliminated altogether by reasoning that if no one else was
interested in taking on that program then it was time to let it go. Quite
simply it was about not doing anything just because I had always done it. I
reevaluate regularly before putting a job on my list. Is this something that
needs to be done? Really? If so then am I really the best, the only, person to
do it?

I have always been the
Queen of the To Do List, but I have learned to readjust my thinking there as
well. I still use them to plan and manage my time, but now I make sure to spend
time not just writing down the millions of things I need to do but also sifting
and sorting. If this is a job that I need to do then I ask myself when it needs
to be done. Does it need to be done today? What happens it if doesn’t get done
until next week? Next month? Similarly, the tasks that don’t get done are not
simply moved from one day to the next without asking the question – why didn’t
this get done? It is about prioritizing every day and every week. The first
week of classes means that course planning and management are top priorities
just as last week was mostly about grading. However, there are other weeks when
program planning or report writing might be the priority and my students drop
to second place. Not everything can or should be top priority all the time. A
hard lesson but I think I have it now!

Putting Me First

Changing my life has meant
making a lot of hard decisions, and even more difficult, sticking with them.
Now my priority list includes doing things for myself. Every week I make time
to write because this is something I need and want to do. I make time to
exercise regularly not because I want to (still waiting for that promised
energy boost) but because it is important for my health and I have found I can
get some good thinking time in on the elliptical so that is a plus. I make time
to spend with my friends (although I still need to do better with this) because
I need to laugh and vent and celebrate life. These are things I need to do for
my mind, body, and soul. Carving time out of a busy schedule and putting off my
real work to attend to my writing, my health, and my relationships is not
selfish. OK, maybe it is, but being selfish is OK and even necessary when it
comes to a balanced life. After all, if I don’t look out for me then who will?

Another difficult
decision, especially after the fact that my job nearly killed me, was taking
myself off the market this fall. I knew that I could not afford to devote the time
and energy to an academic job search plus I knew from past experience how
time-consuming, stressful, and soul-destroying such a search can be. I wanted
to devote my time and energy to maintaining my new-found balance as well as the
development of new projects and possibilities. I knew I was sacrificing
opportunities and I still torture myself by reading the job ads and wondering
“what if” but as I end the semester tired but not empty I know that I made the
right decision. I am looking forward to the work currently on my list and I am
satisfied with the work I completed this fall. My current job is not perfect. I
am underpaid and under-recognized and under-appreciated. But I am doing
important work that makes a difference. I am teaching, I am supporting
practicing teachers on my campus as well as in my region, I am mentoring
pre-service teachers and new teachers, and I have the opportunity to influence
educational policy on my campus. That’s a pretty good gig so I’m not dwelling
on the “what ifs” too much. Instead, I am focusing on celebrating and focusing on the positives.

My life and career path choices
are not for everyone, but now I can look back over the past semester and know
that I made the right ones for me. I am excited about the changes that 2013 can
bring and happy that 2012 is wrapping up much better than I could have forseen
back in May. If there is one gift that I would give to you (well after world
peace) it would be for you to find more balance in your life. Happiness will
follow I promise. Now ask yourself: What can you do to find more balance and happiness in your life?

Monday, December 3, 2012

I use a lot of collaboration and interaction in my online
writing classrooms with assignments including reflection journals, class
discussion, and writing workshop. My institution’s course management system is
Blackboard (I know, right) and like many I have not been particularly satisfied
with the way Blackboard supports my pedagogy. The discussion forum in
Blackboard does not allow the conversation to flow and develop organically but
instead imposes a formal structure and makes it impossible to easily connect
entries due to the need to click in and out of posts. The journal tool does not
allow students to comment on the journals of their classmates. Writing workshop
in Blackboard tends to be a one-way street with little collaboration. Blackboard
does not offer any fun social media options or alternatives to support
community development. Navigation in blackboard is just clunky and
counterintuitive. None of my reasons for disliking Blackboard are unique to me
and probably are not news to any experienced user.

This summer I abandoned Blackboard and taught an online graduate
class entirely using Google tools and Twitter. We built collaborative docs for
our discussion, posted journals that encouraged the free exchange of ideas,
and, best of all, created a robust and lively online writing workshop. While no
relationship is entirely free from challenges, I was in love with Google docs
and wanted everyone to know about it (read more in “Teaching With Google Docs”).

Still caught up in the heady rush of a young love affair,
I leapt into using Google for my online writing classes in the fall semester
and abandoned my long-time practice of using Twitter for Google+. I knew there
would be challenges. I was now teaching much larger sections and working with
undergraduate rather than graduate students as well as all the baggage that
accompanies students who are taking a required class rather than an option or
elective. However, I was sure that the good would outweigh the bad and that we
could work through whatever ugliness Murphy’s Law threw in our path. Now in the
final days of the semester I can look back at such naiveté and laugh. It wasn’t
a complete disaster and certainly some good things happened this semester, but
in the spring semester I will move the bulk of my class activities back to
Blackboard.

Better Communication

Using Google opened up an additional channel of
communication that Blackboard just can’t match and for that reason alone I will
continue to use Google in some way. The chat option cannot be matched for an
online class because I have my Gmail window open most of the day so students
can usually catch me for some quick help. I wanted to use Hangout as well but
it seemed most were just as comfortable using Chat and perhaps using the other
features in Google docs made Hangout extraneous for them. I do love having that
as an option though. I also like Google+. I love Twitter and continue to use it
outside the classroom but I like the ability to separate groups in Google+ and
I like the posting/commenting features better for the purposes of classroom
communication and community building. Right now I plan to continue requiring
students create a Google account (if they don’t already have one) and we will
use Google+ as our social media and community building tool.

Messy and Distracted

I still love the idea of creating discussion documents
and journals in Google rather than Blackboard as they are much more
collaborative and organic than any options available in Blackboard but they are
also messy and because they are removed from Blackboard I think for many
students it seemed to be a case of out-of-sight then out-of-mind. I suspect
part of the problem is that it was just one more place to check in and so
students would simply forgot about it or put it off. It seemed to me that discussion
participation was down (which did solve one of my initial worries about the
number of people who could collaborate on a document without it spinning out of
control) as the semester progressed. Journal posts also seemed to drop off. We
can never know all the reasons why students don’t do their work for a class,
but I suspect that in this case another channel created more problems and
interference. Of course, it did not help that in the middle of the semester we
were all forced to switch to Drive and I really don’t like Drive as much as I
liked Docs (but that is another post). We had a number of problems with
disappearing posts and folders. I expected some of that but it certainly contributed
to student dissatisfaction and lack of engagement (understandably). Logistics
was also an issue for me. With a full undergraduate class (rather than a small
graduate seminar) it was often difficult to keep track of participation in
discussion and while it was easier with journals I still had to do a lot of
clicking. This was made even more complicated by the fact that some students
did not follow naming conventions and did not always properly use folders. Of
course these things happen in Blackboard too.

My New Plan

While I will continue to use Google for the chat and
social media features, I plan to move journals and discussion back to
Blackboard. However, this time around I am going to experiment with using the Blog
tool for our weekly topic discussions and reflections. While it may not be as
organic as a Google doc I think it will be more so than the discussion board
and it will be less messy (and therefore better for logistics) than Google. I
also hope that by keeping discussion and reflection in Blackboard so that
students are not switching back and forth between tools will remove one
obstacle to student participation.

I have not yet decided what to do about writing workshop.
I still love the options that Google offers for this and as students will have
Google accounts I can reserve that option. Traditionally, we don’t start off
with workshop so I will have some weeks to ponder our options and perhaps by
the time it becomes an issue students will be ready to make the leap with me or
I will know that this specific group of students is not ready to use a new
tool.

Once again I am reinventing my online classroom. Is all this innovation a good thing? Some days I wonder. Which Blackboard and Google tools do you recommend for
fostering class discussion, reflection, interaction, and workshop?